Some quick tips? m9750

Hey guys!

I have an issue with my alienware m9750. I bought it on the low - so you know how that goes.

Basically, i put windows 7 on it. and it takes anywhere between 17min-21min to boot. I tried to look into Even Viewer, for an Operation 100 entry and see whats causing the boot. However, there were only 200's and 300's, no Boot ones. Weird?

Also, My video card sucks - i tried the EZ Bake technique, which worked- and i love it. It failed again the other day(2-4months later), then i re-baked it. and its alive.

Anyways, My question is i want to get a new HDD, and get some arctic silver, and a can of air and just dust this thing out, and re apply thermal paste, etc.

What other tips would you advise on getting my baby to a Daily-use machine again? New HDD for better boot, Can of air to clear out any dust in there, Thermal paste to apply on heatsinks/pad things.

is there anything else i can do to help my baby be more efficient?

It has a nickname of the Screaming Furnace. ha. because its so hot and loud, lol

 

Hi J0epwn, welcome to the club!

I also have the m9750, and I love it! That being said, it sounds like you have a few internal problems.
Personally, if you already baked your card twice, then you REALLY need to be looking for a replacement card. It is on its last legs and is the most likely reason you are getting such poor performance.
A new HDD will help, even a Hybrid or SSD will work wonders. Try to keep the RAM to 2GB as going up to 4GB has been known to cause stability problems. Check the drivers sticky thread, and then you should be good to go!

Again, congrats and welcome!

 

Hey thanks for such a prompt response,

Yeah its at 4gb, i didn't know that 4gb would cause issues. Perhaps if i put another OS on it? Vista? instead of 7? Should i go 3gb ram as opposed to 4?

Yeah SSD might be an option, can i connect that to my mobo? its still SATA?
Replacement card is on my to-get list for sure. It's called the Screaming Furnace for a reason.

I overall love my alienware, she just needs some TLC. HDD, Video card, and possbily remove RAM in hopes to speed this baby up.

Any additional tips/advice is highly apprecaited,
have a good weekend

 

prices of cards for the m9750 are insane, especially if you're looking for the 9750gtx sli setup. If you have to buy all you mentioned, i'd look into a completely new laptop unless you can find some really good deals on the parts you need.

 

My 9750 has Windows 7 and 4gb of ram and it is stable. It is fast enough for games for me too but it has an ATI 3870 and an SSD. I paid about $700 total for the upgrades and now I can go another year before I will want to buy a new computer. It might have been better to buy a new computer instead of upgrade but, because of the economy, the longer I wait the easier it will be to afford a new computer.

 

For what it's worth I had 4Gb of RAM and did an upgrade from Vista to 7 and have seen nothing but benefits. Vista sucks big style and if I were you I would not go backwards. Perhaps a clean install of 7 may help?

I had a few slowdown issues in the last few weeks which were quickly fixed by a good vac out with the hoover and switching the RAM chips around. I know you shouldn't vac, but I have expressed my skepticism regarding static in another post.

I agree with the others regarding sinking further cash into the machine. I have seen 9750s on eBay for 60 quid, fully functioning. Go figure.

 

Yeah so far it seems to just be insanely HOT, and the video card is on its last thread. thats for sure.

We call it the screaming furnace. I am at a point where i dont know if i should buy a new laptop (wont get nearly the same specs, though), or try to upgrade/fix this one. I only have like $600USD. So i can either buy a medium grade laptop, or buy a new vid card, SSD HD, and some other stuff to try to keep my baby running.

I'd prefer to just upgrade, but the video card i ahve (its a SINGLE video card, i think its a 7950? - not sure though). i've been re-baking that puppy like..3 times so far, it works for months at a time though.

The replacement is like $300-$400, ? Suggestions? Should i try to upgrade/fix or buy a new laptop? something cheap from newegg?

Everything else seems fine except the heat and video card, which may be the same thing?

Thanks

 

Well I was going to recomend RAM but I am failry ignorant when it comes to this beast. Can the system take 8 GIGS RAM???

 

The 7950 is an old card. If you buy one thorugh ebay, you have no clue what you will get, 50% of the time you end up buying someone else's baked card, waste of money. It's a risk you should decide you are willing to take or not, especially with a budget, you should ask yourself how much margin you have for error.

It's a tough choice.

The only thing i would consider, if i had $600 budget is going 7950GTX SLI in your notebook.
It all depends on what you define as daily use. If you just work on it, no gaming or other special things, i'd get a cheap graphics card (8700m gt or something), and you will be able to use this baby for another year or 2.
If you like playing recent games though, i'd seriously start to think if you want to put money in this or want to save up for a new system.

 

I believe 4Gb is the max.

 

Yeah 4GB is the maximum. I rarely game, its more of photoshop, dreamweaver, load of google chrome tabs, vent, skype - normal people stuff. I'm a web developer, so its pretty much work related.

I think i'm going to look for the cheaper video card, 8700 something - just to get me back online. Save some of that budget for something that might - and probably will - break next. lol.

i'll check the BST section, as well as ztronics for 8700 something.

Thanks fellas,